Sender Freies Berlin (; abbreviated SFB ; ) was the
ARD public radio and television service for
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
from 1 June 1954 until 1990 and for
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
as a whole from
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
until 30 April 2003. On 1 May 2003 it merged with
Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg to form ''
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (; "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting"; abbreviated: RBB , stylized as rbb) is an institution under public law (national broadcaster) for the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg, based in Berlin and Potsdam. RBB ...
''.
History
Pre-war
In 1922, the ''Deutsche Stunde, Gesellschaft für drahtlose Belehrung und Unterhaltung mbH'' (German Society for Wireless Instruction and Entertainment Limited) was formed to promote the new science of radio
broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...
and
reception
Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to:
Astrology
* Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another ...
. This institution began broadcasting on 29 October 1923 from
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
.
In 1933,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
broadcasting was brought under
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
state control and the station became ''Reichssender Berlin'', part of the national ''Großdeutscher Rundfunk'', controlled by
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
. The station was closed by the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
at the end of the
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.
After the Vistula– ...
that brought the
End of World War II in Europe.
Post-war
In the post-war
four-power occupation of Germany, the British Control Commission appointed
Hugh Greene
Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (15 November 1910 – 19 February 1987) was a British television executive and journalist. He was director-general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969.
After working for newspapers in the 1930s, Greene spent most of his later ...
to restart German broadcasting in the
British Zone. The first station on-air was
Radio Hamburg
Radio Hamburg is a private commercial radio station based on Hamburg, Germany. Established in the 1980s to play popular music of the time, nowadays it plays hits from the 2000s onwards, on high rotation. Their slogan is ''Mehr Musik, mehr Vielfal ...
. This was followed by the setting up of
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk
Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR; ''Northwest German Broadcasting'') was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Länder of Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 to ...
(NWDR) as the broadcasting corporation for the entire British Zone and for Berlin. Similarly, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
created
Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor
RIAS (german: Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor; en, ''Radio in the American Sector'') was a radio and television station in the American Sector of Berlin during the Cold War. It was founded by the US occupational authorities after World War I ...
(RIAS) for their zone in Berlin.
In 1948, NWDR was transferred to German control (RIAS remained American-controlled).
In 1950, NWDR began two second radio services in its area on
FM, NDR2 in the north and WDR2 in the west. In 1952, NWDR pioneered the launching of
625-line 625-lines is a standard-definition television resolution used mainly in the context of analog systems. It was first demonstrated by Mark Iosifovich Krivosheev in 1948.
Analog broadcast television standards
The following International Telecommuni ...
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
broadcasting in (West) Germany.
East German uprising
In June and July 1953, a strike by construction workers in the
German Democratic Republic
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
(GDR) led to an
uprising
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
of the people of the communist state which was violently put down by
Soviet forces
The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...
and the ''
Volkspolizei
The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
''.
The government of the GDR accused RIAS of fanning the flames of the uprising and reporting inaccurately. This led to calls for West Berlin to have its own independent broadcaster as in the other
Länder
Länder (singular Land) or Bundesländer (singular Bundesland) is the name for (federal) states in two German-speaking countries. It may more specifically refer to:
* States of Austria, the nine federal subdivisions of Austria
* States of Germany ...
.
A law was passed to establish this new broadcaster, which came into force on 12 November 1953, separating West Berlin from NWDR. The new ''Sender Freies Berlin'' began broadcasting two services, SFB1 and SFB2 on 1 June 1954, and joined the
ARD in September 1954.
SFB began broadcasting the ARD's television service in 1958
SFB's radio and television signals as well as covering West Berlin were receivable in many parts of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
; similarly, East German
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
and
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
were receivable throughout West Berlin.
Third Programmes
On 1 October 1962 SFB and
Norddeutscher Rundfunk
Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR; ''Northern German Broadcasting'') is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, M ...
(NDR) began broadcasting the high-culture and classical music ''Drittes Programm'' (Third Programme), modeled on the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
BBC Third Programme
The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and quickly became one of the leading cultural and intellectual f ...
. This was joined by a service for immigrant workers on 1 June 1973, and became a separate service known as SFB3 on 1 April 1979.
On 4 January 1965, a third public television service was started, joining ARD (''
Das Erste'') and
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
. SFB and
Radio Bremen
Radio Bremen (RB), Germany's smallest public radio and television broadcaster, is the legally mandated broadcaster for the city-state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (which includes Bremerhaven). With its headquarters sited in Bremen, Radio Brem ...
both relayed the service provided by NDR – ''Nord 3'' (later ''N3''). The best known programme on Nord 3 was ''"KONTRASTE"'', a political magazine that concentrated on developments in the
Eastern bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
.
N3's
teletext
A British Ceefax football index page from October 2009, showing the three-digit page numbers for a variety of football news stories
Teletext, or broadcast teletext, is a standard for displaying text and rudimentary graphics on suitably equipp ...
service, ''Nordtext'' (later NDR-Text), carried information for West Berlin.
1989–2003
With the fall of the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
in 1989, and the subsequent
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
in 1990, Berlin was left with duplicate broadcasting outlets from the two administrations – SFB from the west and ''
Berliner Rundfunk
The Berliner Rundfunk (BERU) was a radio station set in East Germany. It had a political focus and discussed events in East Berlin. Today it is a commercial radio station broadcast with the name "Berliner Rundfunk 91.4".
History
The Berliner ...
'' (radio) and ''
Fernsehen der DDR
Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991.
DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programming ...
'' (DDR, later DFF) (television) from the east.
On 1 January 1992, SFB became the public broadcasting company for the whole of reunited Berlin. However, SFB had long had a significant audience in East Berlin for some time before reunification. The
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
SFB1 became ''Berlin 88,8'' (later ''88acht'' and now ''radioBerlin 88,8''). In October 1992, N3's frequency was replaced by SFB's full-fledged service for the capital, ''B1'' (Berlin Eins), later ''SFB1''.
The GDR's national television service was closed and replaced by four ARD regions: an expanded NDR in the north; the continuing SFB in Berlin; and the new
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR; ''Central German Broadcasting'') is the public broadcaster for the federal states of Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in Germany. Established in January 1991, its headquarters are in Leipzig, with regional studio ...
(MDR) in the south and
Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB – East German Broadcasting – Brandenburg) in the east.
On 22 February 1993, the SFB began a joint venture with the new ORB to create ''Radio BZWEI'', a news and information service for the east of the country aimed at 25 to 50-year-old listeners. On 1 March 1993, the two broadcasters launched ''Fritz'', a radio station for young people.
On 18 September 1994, SFB launched ''RADIOmultikulti'' (SFB4), a service for foreign nationals and immigrants to Germany. This was joined by ''InfoRADIO'', a SFB/ORB joint venture news station, on 28 August 1995.
In 1995 the
Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg in coalition with the Sender Freies Berlin started their
Internet radio
Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...
streaming service ''Info-Radio on Demand''.
On 3 October 1997, SFB and ORB launched ''RADIOkultur'', a cultural station taking up much of the programming of SFB3, with an emphasis on classic, world, jazz and new music and politics.
Merger
Having co-operated on many of services, SFB and ORB merged on 1 May 2003 to form
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (; "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting"; abbreviated: RBB , stylized as rbb) is an institution under public law (national broadcaster) for the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg, based in Berlin and Potsdam. RBB ...
(RBB).
SFB stations
Television
Joint operations
*
Das Erste – ARD joint channel
*
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
– ARD and ZDF joint events channel
*
KiKa
KiKA (contraction of ''Der KinderKAnal von ARD und ZDF'' ARD and ZDF">ARD_(broadcaster).html" ;"title="he Children's Channel of ARD (broadcaster)">ARD and ZDF]) is a German free-to-air television channel based in Erfurt, Germany. It is man ...
– ARD and ZDF joint children's channel
*
Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...
– French-German culture channel
*
3sat – ARD, ZDF,
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
, and
SRG joint highbrow channel
Own network
* SFB1 (formerly B1) – "third" television channel for Berlin
Radio
*SFB 1 (from 1 June 1946 until 1 January 1992, then as ''88acht'')
*SFB 2 (from 1 June 1946 until 22 February 1993, than in co-operation with ORB as
Radio B Zwei)
*
Berlin 88,8 (later 88acht and now radioBerlin 88,8) – local radio for Berlin
*
RADIOmultikulti – station for foreign workers and immigrants
*
Fritz
Fritz originated as a German nickname for Friedrich, or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor) as well as for similar names including Fridolin a ...
– youth radio (in co-operation with ORB)
*
INFOradio – information station (in co-operation with ORB)
*
RADIOkultur – culture station (in co-operation with ORB)
*
radioEINS
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (; "Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting"; abbreviated: RBB , stylized as rbb) is an institution under public law (national broadcaster) for the Germany, German states of Berlin and Brandenburg, based in Berlin and Pots ...
– entertainment station (in co-operation with ORB)
Directors-General
* 1954–1957: Alfred Braun
* 1957–1960: Walter Geerdes
* 1961–1968: Walter Steigner
* 1968–1978: Franz Albert Barsig
* 1978–1983: Wolfgang Haus
* 1983–1986: Lothar Loewe
* 1986–1989: Günter Herrmann
* 1989–1997: Dr Günther von Lojewski
* 1998–2003: Horst Schättle
References
External links
Official site of Sender Freies Berlin(redirect to
RBB)
{{Authority control
ARD (broadcaster)
German radio networks
Defunct radio stations in Germany
Defunct German television channels
1954 establishments in West Germany
Organisations based in Berlin
Television stations in Berlin
Radio stations established in 1954
Television channels and stations established in 1954
West Berlin
2003 disestablishments in Germany